


Genre Savvy

by DT Maxwell (Draya)



Series: Our Blades Are Sharp [30]
Category: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Adopted Children, BAMF Married Couple, F/M, I will ship Andronikos and the Inquisitor in hell, Imperial Reclamation Service, Sith Shenanigans, Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, Tomb Robbing, and all the cliches associated with tomb robbing, they are the cutest damn couple in the whole game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 10:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1979193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draya/pseuds/DT%20Maxwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, <em>The Renatus-Revel Family Desperately Needs a Better Idea for Appropriate Family Vacations</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Genre Savvy

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to my [tumblr](http://dragons-bones.tumblr.com/post/85028147171/swtor-genre-savvy-or-the-renatus-revel-family-needs) in May 2014.
> 
> BioWare won't give me continued Sphere of Ancient Knowledge or Imperial Reclamation Service shenanigans? THEN BY GOD I SHALL WRITE MY OWN.
> 
> (For those curious, Khem Val is back on Dromund Kaas to keep an eye on the alchemy division, with Phae having told everyone Khem’s allowed to eat them if they do something _really_ stupid while she’s off planet.)
> 
> Out of all my SWTOR fics and ficlets, this is the one I am most proud of, and I hope you enjoy it!

Andronikos looked at the floating holocron suspiciously. “This was way too easy, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” Phae said, prowling around the holocron’s pedestal. The camera droid floated just behind her, providing both a feed to the RecServ archaeologists back at basecamp and a light for Phae and her husband. Phae tapped the radio comm in her ear. “Talos, Aurek, thoughts?”

“I suspect a modified pressure plate, my lord,” Lieutenant Talos Drellik said. “Once the holocron is beyond range of the sensors in the pedestal, the trap is trigged, bringing the whole tomb down.”

“Probably not all at once, though,” Captain Vero Aurek said. Aurek never used honorifics if he could help it. Phae found his lack of deference refreshing. “We did a lot of reinforcing of the corridors as we dug the tomb out once we realized we weren’t trigging any traps. Usually means nothing happens until something in one of the main chambers is disturbed. Should make an escape somewhat feasible, and we took full scans of all the carvings throughout the tomb to be studied later if digging it back out isn’t feasible.”

“Most of those systems are cascading ones to begin with, anyway. One section collapses, triggering a collapse further done the line, and so forth. I don’t think we’ve yet encountered a tomb where everything had been primed to collapse in one go.”

“ _Yet._ ”

Andronikos’s expression was sour. Phae continued her circuit around the pedestal and drawled, “Such optimism, Captain Aurek.”

“Only for the day I’m finally free of you, Darth Makhaira,” Aurek said, completely deadpan.

The radio line crackled as Phae heard Talos sigh heavily and Private Rozhana Jahlen gasp. The Sith, for her part, merely chuckled. Talos had worked with Captain Aurek before, and so was well aware of the captain’s tendency to sass his superiors whenever he could; further, Talo had worked with Phae for so long that the lieutenant knew just how far the darth was willing to tolerate such behavior before she felt it had moved into the realm of insubordination. Private Jahlen, however, had only been working as personal assistant to Darth Makhaira for three months and was still twitchy about proper deference to Sith.

Phae already knew how she’d get back at her second-favorite RecServ archaeologist, although that wouldn’t come to fruition for a long while yet. It would take a few more years to get Aurek promoted high enough to finally kick him into General Threnoldt’s office once Threnoldt retired.

Phae was going to laugh and laugh and _laugh_ while Aurek cussed her out for it.

But back to the present.

“Private Jahlen, is my daughter there?”

“Um, no, my lord,” the Zabrak said. “Last I saw her, she, Lord Ashara, and Lord Xalek were with Lieutenant Laasun’s team; the lieutenant was showing Lady Xalla how best to excavate a skeleton. One moment, my lord, I’ll go fetch her.”

The Sith made a pleased noise in the back of throat and rocked back on her heels. Such a good decision, making Jahlen her assistant.

Andronikos raised an eyebrow at her.

Phae grinned.

Andronikos sighed heavily, shoulders slumping. “Ah, crap,” he said under his breath.

“My lord,” Talos said, the disapproval in his voice clear even over the radio distortions. The camera droid’s microphone had apparently picked up what Andronikos had said, and Talos probably knew just as well as the pirate what she was planning.

“Oh, shush, the both of you,” Phae said cheerfully. “No ruining my fun.”

“No one likes your idea of fun, my lord.”

“Says the man who cheerfully followed me into an icy Sadow’een Temple overrun with battle droids and had the time of his life.”

Talos grumbled, but didn’t say anything else.

After a few more moments, there was an audible rustle over the comm line, and then a cheery, “Hi, Momma! Hi, Papa!”

“Hey, kiddo,” Andronikos said, voice fond. “Having fun digging up old bones?”

“ _Yes!_ ”

Phae and Andronikos shared matching proud grins. Xalla had been practically bouncing all over the dig site, pestering the archaeologists with questions and trying to help as best she could by relying messages and bringing what light equipment she could carry. Their little girl was having the time of her life – and running Ashara and Xalek, both on bodyguard duty, ragged.

“So, Xalla-love,” Phae said, “If I was to tell you that your father thought I was about to do something he claims is certifiably insane, how would you respond?”

“…You’re just differently rational?”

Phae beamed and preened even as her husband rolled his eyes and threw up his hands. “Very good, sweetie! Sometimes you have to take risks in the pursuit of knowledge.”

“And really awesome loot.”

“Yes, and really awesome – wait, what?”

Xalla giggled. Andronikos couldn’t stop himself from snorting a laugh in surprise, matched by ones from Talos and Ashara over the line. (Xalek was likely rolling his eyes.) Phae blinked, then leveled a glare on her husband. “Telling stories behind my back?” the Sith said.

The pirate grinned at her. “Only the good ones.”

Phae muttered a curse in Undercity pidgin under her breath, sighed, and said louder, “All right, Xalla, reasons for differently rational decisions aside, I want you to watch and pay attention. Rule?”

Her daughter sighed heavily, and said sulkily, “No ‘peating what you do until I’m old enough t’ drink.”

“On?”

Another sigh. “On _Chandrila._ ”

“Good girl.” Phae clapped her hands and moved away from the holocron. “All right, people, gather ‘round your viewing screens! Betting closes in five minutes, then we’re bringing down a tomb.”

As the RecServ members got down to their time-honored tradition of betting on the possibilities and outcomes of a tomb run, Phae and Andronikos reviewed the tomb layout on a datapad, noting alternate routes to take to the exit should the main path not be available. The pair stood side by side, Andronikos with his left arm wrapped around her shoulders and scowling fiercely at the datapad, while Phae had her arm around his waist.

A flicker of blue out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and Phae turned her head to peer over her husband’s shoulder.

The Force ghost of the Sith whose tomb they stood in was staring at her. She was human, tall and thin almost to the point of emaciation, her hair styled elaborately and robes heavy with gilt embroidery. The look on her face was an equal mix of nonplussed, disbelieving, and calculating.

(Dea wore a look very similar to that, at times. It was usually accompanied by her older sister saying, “You are not right in the head.”

Like Dea had room to talk.)

Phae smirked at the ghost, and lifted her hand from her husband’s waist just enough to wiggle her fingers at it in a smarmy wave.

The ghost snarled silently, then vanished.

Phae made to turn her attention back to the datapad, but caught her husband’s eye instead. His expression had settled into grim resignedness, and Phae felt her amusement drain away.

“Talk to me, Andronikos,” she murmured, too quiet for the comms to pick up.

“I don’t like this,” he said, voice pitched to match hers. “I don’t like both of us being in a tomb, about to spring a trap that’ll bring gods only know how much rock down on our heads, with our daughter _watching._ ”

Phae let her breath out through her nose, and reached up to cup Andronikos’s face. “Do you trust me?”

Andronikos closed his eyes, breathing out a tired sigh. “Gods help me, but yes,” he said.

“Then trust that if the worst happens, I can protect us in a bubble with the Force until help arrives. Trust that that camera droid has a very powerful tracking beacon RecServ designed and has been using for years on all their digs, and can use it to find our exact location and dig us out. Trust that Captain Aurek and Talos have the excavation team ready to go right now. Trust that I would never, ever let our daughter watch this if I didn’t fully believe we would be reading her a story before bed tonight. Can you do that?”

Her husband sighed again. “Yeah. Yeah, Tryphaena, I think I can,” he said, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers.

Phae hummed, lightly stroking his cheeks with her thumbs and enjoying the warmth her pirate always radiated. Yeah, she was going to owe him _big_ for this.

Andronikos finally drew back, squaring his shoulders. “All right, let’s get this over with,” he said.

Standing on her tiptoes, Phae kissed him on the cheek, then whirled to face the camera droid. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s show time!”

“Ready on our end, my lord,” Talos said. “Good luck.”

“Who needs luck?” Phae said, a toothy smile cutting across her features. “We have the Force.”

She strode back toward the holocron, unslinging a pack from her back. The Sith stopped right next to the pedestal, her husband tense and wary behind her.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

Phae reached out, grabbed the holocron, and shoved it into the pack, turning on her heel in the same movement and slinging the pack over her shoulder. She and Andronikos were already halfway toward the chamber’s exit, the camera droid right on their heels, when the room’s high-vaulted ceiling began to collapse, and had cleared the central chamber entirely by the time the roar of tons of earth and rock came crashing down, and started to bring the rest of the tomb with it.

A manic grin stretched across Phae’s face. Her adrenaline was spiking and the Force sang in her bones, and she hadn’t had this much fun in a long, long time.

Phae and Andronikos careened around a corner at full speed, outrunning the collapsing corridor behind them, the camera droid zipping after them. Andronikos swore viciously in Huttesse. Phae laughed delightedly.

“Tryphaena,” her husband said between breaths as they pounded down the corridor, having to shout over the rumble of moving stone, “I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: you are _insane!_ ”

The Sith laughed again. “The fact that you married me doesn’t speak well of your own sanity, Andronikos!”

“I’ve seen you mind trick people before!”

“You’re the one who volunteered to pilot my ship for me in the first place, I had _nothing_ to do with that!”

Andronikos swore again.

They turned another corner, and Phae’s eyes widened as she suddenly stepped wrong, her right foot going out from under her and sending her crashing to the ground. Andronikos skidded to halt, panic on his face as he turned to run back to her.

“Keep _going!_ ” Phae roared, trying to regain her equilibrium, and sending out a pulse with the Force to push her husband forward.

She could feel his anger and terror and frustration through the Force, but Andronikos set his jaw and obeyed.

Phae grit her teeth, running a quick internal check for anything broken as she hauled herself to her feet, and then ran after her husband. She’d lost precious ground with that tumble, though, and was now a dozen meters behind Andronikos.

Which was when, of course, a huge section of the floor suddenly collapsed into a gaping chasm immediately after Andronikos cleared that part of the corridor, following his footsteps until it suddenly stopped more than three-quarters of the way to the next junction. As she closed in, she could see that it would _not_ be passable in a single jump.

Phae made a disgusted noise. Nine fucking hells, she was _actually_ living a holofilm cliché right now, and it was too late to double back and take another path.

RecServ had reinforced this corridor heavily, though, with durasteel shoring. Some of the crossbeams had already begun to shake loose as the reverberations from the collapsing tomb continued to spread outward, and the collapsed floor and broken part of the walls of the corridor ahead of her had caused one of the ceiling beams to buckle downward. If she could time this just right…

Phae lengthened her stride and _leapt_ from the edge of the chasm. She grabbed the hanging shoring at the apex of her jump, using her momentum to swing herself around it and launch herself to the opposite side of the corridor, tucking herself into a ball. She tumbled through the air, reaching out with the Force to check her distance from the opposite edge. Two more heartbeats, then she untucked herself, and landed in a crouch on her feet, one hand on the ground to steady herself, and pushed off back into a flat sprint in a fresh burst of speed to catch up with Andronikos.

Raucous cheers burst over the comms. “You just won me _so much money,_ my lord,” Jahlen sang over the line. Phae could hear Talos and Ashara whooping in the background, and Aurek’s colorful swearing as he probably handed his credit chit over to Jahlen.

“Language, Aurek,” Phae said cheerfully as she came level with Andronikos, the pair of them continuing their run back to safety. “My daughter has delicate ears.”

“Momma, Cap’n Aurek has got _nothing_ on Aunt Arty.”

It was Andronikos’s turn to laugh breathlessly as Phae went from smiling to scowling in an instant.

“I’m going to strangle my sister,” Phae growled.

“Run now, plot murder later, sweetheart!”

“It’s called multitasking!”

“It’s called a distraction!”

The two them continued bickering as they ran through the tomb. The tense silence at basecamp had been broken, and most of the team was now indulging in color commentary and sly quips as their boss and her husband hurled insults at each other. But even Andronikos was grinning now, and his exhilaration matched her own as they burst from the tomb and into the sun, followed by a huge plume of thick dust.

They collapsed side by side in the grass a few meters from the tomb, panting heavily as they stared up at the clear sky, with Phae wiggling the pack off her back and tossing it somewhere above their heads. There was a roar of sound as the tomb entrance collapsed entirely, slowly replaced by the distant cheers of the RecServ team as they made their way over to meet them.

Andronikos groaned. “We are never doing that again,” he said between breaths.

Phae’s laugh was more of a wheeze. “Sure we are. After we finish up here, RecServ’s going to excavate the old library-temple complex on Krayiss Two.”

“Babe, the fact that visiting _Nar Shaddaa_ of all places in the galaxy has become our idea of a quiet family vacation isn’t a good thing.”

“I keep our lives interesting. You love it, don’t lie.”

“It’s not so much me loving the action as me loving _you,_ Sith.”

Phae’s smile was blinding, and she reached over to grab her husband’s hand, intertwining their fingers. Andronikos gripped back tightly. “Love you, too, pirate,” she said.


End file.
